Secrecy surrounding filming of The Hobbit is so tight that even a fire crew called to an explosion at Sir Peter Jackson's Wellington studio has been gagged.
The Fire Service has confirmed it has signed a confidentiality agreement with both the studio and Weta Workshop.
Although not in the habit of doing so, it made the move because of the digital film industry's value to the city.
Two people were injured yesterday in the explosion in one of the workshops at Stone Street Studios in Miramar, where extensive shooting for The Hobbit is taking place. They were taken to Wellington Hospital with minor injuries.
A spokeswoman said the explosion did not affect filming.
Kilbirnie fire station would not provide any more details about the explosion, including what might have caused it, because that would breach confidentiality agreements all crew members had signed with both the studio and Weta Workshop.
The Fire Service's operations and training director, Paul McGill, said the organisation did not usually sign confidentiality agreements.
"However, the personnel at the Kilbirnie Fire Station, like most Wellingtonians, are very conscious of the importance of the ground-breaking digital film industry to the city."

Secrecy surrounding filming of The Hobbit is so tight that even a fire crew called to an explosion at Sir Peter Jackson's Wellington studio has been gagged.
The Fire Service has confirmed it has signed a confidentiality agreement with both the studio and Weta Workshop.
Although not in the habit of doing so, it made the move because of the digital film industry's value to the city.
Two people were injured yesterday in the explosion in one of the workshops at Stone Street Studios in Miramar, where extensive shooting for The Hobbit is taking place. They were taken to Wellington Hospital with minor injuries.
A spokeswoman said the explosion did not affect filming.
Kilbirnie fire station would not provide any more details about the explosion, including what might have caused it, because that would breach confidentiality agreements all crew members had signed with both the studio and Weta Workshop.
The Fire Service's operations and training director, Paul McGill, said the organisation did not usually sign confidentiality agreements.
"However, the personnel at the Kilbirnie Fire Station, like most Wellingtonians, are very conscious of the importance of the ground-breaking digital film industry to the city."

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I can see being gagged about things directly related to the movie's sets, plot, etc. But something like "pyrotechnic display" should be legitimate to say. That's just unnecessary.

Are they still doing this stupid splitting it up into 2 movies thing? Considering The Hobbit is shorter than any 1 of the Lord of the Rings books and each of them only merited 1 film each, I don't see why this is necessary. Not unless they add in load of extra crap from the other books. (I've heard some rumors that a lot of Silmarillion material is going to be included as well.)

I think this splitting books up is starting to be a bad habit. Certainly Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows was a bad test case, since damn near nothing happens in the entirety of Part 1!

They are adding in additional scenes expanding Gandalf's storyline and detailing his meetings with the White Council, and the White Council assaulting Sauron's hideout Dol Guldur, thus sending Sauron retreating back to Barad-dur.

They can't add anything from The Silmarillion, though, because they don't have the film rights to it.

Are they still doing this stupid splitting it up into 2 movies thing? Considering The Hobbit is shorter than any 1 of the Lord of the Rings books and each of them only merited 1 film each, I don't see why this is necessary. Not unless they add in load of extra crap from the other books. (I've heard some rumors that a lot of Silmarillion material is going to be included as well.)

I think this splitting books up is starting to be a bad habit. Certainly Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows was a bad test case, since damn near nothing happens in the entirety of Part 1!

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the hobbit maybe shorter than any of the books in the series. but it has the greatest of battles. in my opinion.
and deathly hollows would've been a six hour epic if not split in two parts.

Are they still doing this stupid splitting it up into 2 movies thing? Considering The Hobbit is shorter than any 1 of the Lord of the Rings books and each of them only merited 1 film each, I don't see why this is necessary. Not unless they add in load of extra crap from the other books. (I've heard some rumors that a lot of Silmarillion material is going to be included as well.)

and deathly hollows would've been a six hour epic if not split in two parts.

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Bullshit. All of the entertaining bits of The Deathly Hallows, Part 1 could have been condensed to about 15 minutes worth of material in a larger unified Deathly Hallows movie.

The problem we seem to be running into is that movies aren't being made for the benefit of moviegoers anymore. They're being made to satisfy the nitpicky demands of fans who have already read the book. This is true with Harry Potter, Twilight, even Atlas Shrugged.

With Benedict Cumberbatch unofficially joining the cast of The Hobbit, early reports suggests he will be the voice for Smaug.Early reports suggest Cumberbatch will voice the dragon character Smaug but the actor refused to specify his role, insisting, “I can’t say at the moment, thank you very much.”

A red-faced Freeman later told reporters, “I knew I was a sort of a big mouth but I didn’t realize to what extent I was a big mouth, and I’ve just ruined everything. I might not actually go back to a job – they might have just sacked (fired) me.”

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We might not get to see Freeman and Cumberbatch interact face-to-face, but I can already imagine the verbal squabble between the two as Bilbo and Smaug. Bring it on!

With Benedict Cumberbatch unofficially joining the cast of The Hobbit, early reports suggests he will be the voice for Smaug.Early reports suggest Cumberbatch will voice the dragon character Smaug but the actor refused to specify his role, insisting, “I can’t say at the moment, thank you very much.”

A red-faced Freeman later told reporters, “I knew I was a sort of a big mouth but I didn’t realize to what extent I was a big mouth, and I’ve just ruined everything. I might not actually go back to a job – they might have just sacked (fired) me.”

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We might not get to see Freeman and Cumberbatch interact face-to-face, but I can already imagine the verbal squabble between the two as Bilbo and Smaug. Bring it on!